Saturday, August 19, 2006

Sweet Surrender

I am sorry to report that I've found on-the-road updates of the blog complete with pictures too difficult and/or expensive.

I am now in Lone Pine CA, where I will be for a couple of weeks, there is a coffee shop here with wireless - and they charge. :(

Death Valley is AWESOME, I was not prepared for just how cool it was going to be. Besides being very hot (I did go through in the afternoon and never turned on the ac, out of principle) the desert peaks are quite breathtaking.

As I come further west, more and more of the tourists are European. They seem to be mostly German Speaking, and after that, Russian (as far as I can tell), French, and Italian. In Death Valley, I think I was the only North American present. It confirms my decision to spend time seeing the great west of my native continent before flying off to another.

Coming out of scenic Death Valley, to get my first glimpse of the Sierras in the distance, was overwhelming. Please forgive the extreme cheesyness of saying this: I cried non-stop for about 30 minutes and had to pull over to get control of myself, before rolling into town.

The only thing that's just a little less than perfect (besides the blog compromise): is that hiking the AZ peak (Humphrey's), followed the next day by walking around Vegas in sandals, caused my left achilles to be a little sore. I'm giving it a couple of days before hiking, which is just as well since I should be slowing it down a little, reading a book, and writing some music.

I camped here in Lone Pine, CA last night, which I just found out is only at 3600 feet. So I will be heading up to the nearby smaller town for acclimation (Porthole, I think) which is at 8600 and directly at the foot of Whitney and Russell, both of which I plan on hiking.

After I'm back I'll post my pictures with descriptions, and/or I can hold you captive with a long vacation slide show!

To answer questions: I am ashamed to say that I've slept in motels a few nights and have not yet slept in the car. I only ate out once, which was at a very good Mexican restaurant in Vegas. Otherwise I've been eating out of a cooler in my trunk. A lesson? I have really lost all taste for hotels. Mr. Tibbs is one of the many pet names for the Hyundai Tiberon (he and I have bonded quite well, he deserves another oil change).

I usually rate my vacations on a 10 point scale. This vacation has already surpassed what would have been a 10 point on that scale, setting a new precedent. Where it will fall in my estimation within a few years, we'll see. (The only part of this trip where I was less than elated was in Las Vegas, which isn't surprising. Now that I've seen most of it, I never have to go back!)

I've give another update in a week or so. See you all soon, hope life is good.